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So I had a lovely Shabbat in my lovely sukkah. I wasn’t in it all the time, as practicalities like rain intervened. Dinner last night was lovely:
The lights on the fence are leftover from a party celebrating one of The Child’s accomplishments. By their light and the light of the two candles, you can see my dinner plate (empty now, but I had salmon, broccoli, and noodles), a cloth covering the hallah, a Lexan martini glass filled with champagne sparkling wine from New Mexico, and the rest of the half-bottle submerged in ice. I must have been bracing the camera against something non-vertical, as the sukkah didn’t seem so tipsy until I’d had a good deal more of the bubbly.
I’m just in from having a bit of fire in the chiminea. It’s not really cold, but it didn’t reach the 90s today due to the rain this afternoon, so it was cool and damp enough to survive a small fire.
During the rain, I ate half a pomegranate and watched “Flags of Our Fathers,” which I quite enjoyed. The movie has nothing what-so-ever to do with Sukkot, but it was informative and interesting all the same.
I haven’t been here much; I even skipped Facebook for a couple of weeks. The workload has been crushing with the end of the fiscal year and the website redesign–and then there’s been the Holidays, which have saved my sanity. (It’s amazing how much traffic to this blog is generated by that silly product that didn’t list its ingredients; hardly a day goes by without someone happening onto my site after googling for info on that.)
If it wasn’t for time off for Rosh haShanah, Yom Kippur, Shabbat and Sukkot festival services, I’d have been working all-day-everyday for the entire month. (Well, OK, there’s ACL Fest, too, but I lit candles and said kiddush there as well.) Taking time for these holidays is a privilege and a joy, although so many people don’t see it that way, obviously.
At festival services on Thursday, three darling siblings helped with opening the ark and dressing the Torah. Even our rabbi mentioned that it reminded him of The Child doing just the same thing, Read the rest of this entry »
I just sold my car–well, one of them. I’m rather sad about it, as I really loved The Great Grey Green Greasy Limpopo River All Set About with Fever Trees and have so many great memories associated with it. No more Dean sticker, no more cereal under the seats, no more roof rack for the kayak. Cleaning it out revealed much more than a history of The Child’s breakfast cereal preferences: Read the rest of this entry »
So the wristbands are in my hot little hands, but I’m not happy with them. All my sensory defensiveness is surfacing, and I’m glad I have a couple of days to get used to the idea of wearing one.
Instead of the format they’ve used before, it’s slick plastic strip that’s slightly wider and just one layer thick, with a sticky spot on one end near the serial number. They are perforated, so the edges have a little bit of tooth to them, which gives me the willies. And there’s no give and very little flex, so sleeping in this is gonna be icky.
The design doesn’t match anything on the website; it’s sort of dark red with yellow lettering and something looking like a marquee that I’ll probably end up trimming off since I won’t be able to double the excess back under the button. Maybe I’ll just wear last year’s and see if they object.
There’s still an extra, but I have a couple of leads.
[Sunday am: I trimmed the perfory off the edges to make it less toothy, and it's been easy to slip off for sleeping, so it hasn't turned out to be so bad, but I prefer the old style.]
It’s a towel, napkin, placemat, eye-glass cleaner, hair tamer, shoulder-strap pad, air filter, neck cooler–and so much more! A handkerchief is the number one top most important item in your ACL survival gear. (But remember the anti-bacterial wipes and pocket packs of tissues, too.)
My ACL Schedule Have a look. Tell me what I’m missing.
Note: If there are multiple picks at one time, it’s because I don’t have strong feelings one way or another, so having a record of other possibilities that might suit my mood better will be helpful in a few days when all this just looks like so much text. At some times, there are clearly two or more bands that I’d like to see, but I’ve only marked one to help myself remember which side of the fence I came down on.
Factors:
Stage: This is huge! I’ve never enjoyed a show at the one called the Dell stage this year. The one called the AT&T Blue Room this year is great. Austin Ventures is nice (and usually has the same name year-to-year); ditto for the BMI stage, although it has tended to have more twangular music in the past, so I haven’t spent a lot of time there. I don’t do Gospel music, so the WaMu stage is another one I haven’t seen a lot of shows at.
Familiarity: Sometimes I really like to see repeats, but this year, I’m tending towards new when that’s a factor.
Distance: Checking out Austin bands is great for planning my entertainment the rest of the year, but sometimes an exotic band pulls me away.
Recommendations: If someone I trust says a band is particularly good in performance, I try to work it into the schedule, even if it’s unfamiliar or the clip is unpleasant.
and last, but certainly not least
Location, location, location: Sometimes you just have to get in position for an upcoming performance, so the band before or the band at the stage next door might get my ears. I’ve been pleasantly surprised doing this. And then there’s proximity to the exit at the end of the day….
My big dilemma this year: agility versus comfort. I’ve always had a companion or two, so it hasn’t been too much of an issue. Many hands make light work and all that. The right items can help the time pass more pleasantly, but do I really need to haul all that in myself? I deserve the comfort, but I also want to make sure that I can get back to the car at the end of the day. Balance is so hard.
